Buying Babydoll Sheep - choices

What are your goals?
You might choose to keep Babydoll Sheep for all sorts of reasons. For example, you might decide that you want them for meat or fibre, to breed and sell, to keep as pets or as lawn mowers in the orchard or vineyard.

When you decide what your goals are, that will help you to work out what are the best Babydoll Sheep for you to buy. It is easy to get sucked in by cute Babydoll lambs but it is the adult sheep that you will live with longest.

To move sheep onto any property in Australia (including pet sheep), each sheep must have a EID ear tag, you need a Property Identification Code (PIC) and by law the seller must provide you with a National Vendor Declaration.

Here are some suggestions about what you might look for.

If you are new to sheep...
Every sheep owner has to start somewhere but these suggestions might give you time to learn

• consider starting with less expensive crossbred Babydoll Sheep or older sheep
• consider starting with wethers (castrated males) to learn how to keep sheep before tackling breeding
• think about how you are going to manage your sheep so that the rams and ewes can be kept separate at certain times but still have the company of other sheep - buying a 'breeding pair' can make this hard to manage if they are your only sheep
• it helps to see the sheep in real life and involve someone more experienced in assessing them
• ask what after sales service is offered by vendor
• ask what registrations, pedigrees and health records are available for the sheep (so you can make decisions accordingly).

If you are planning to breed purebred Babydolls, it is often faster overall to wait a little longer to get the right sheep for your breeding flock.

Buying Babydoll Sheep as pets
Babydoll Sheep can be great pets. If you are buying sheep for this purpose you might look for

• sheep from a small flock that are already friendly and relaxed around people
• if you are a novice shepherd, sheep that are old enough to be easier to look after (poddies and newly weaned lambs can be a challenge)
• ewes or wethers (castrated males) - rams generally do not make good pets and can become dangerous if allowed to become overly familiar
• individual sheep that you like
• sheep that are not necessarily registered but do have evidence that they are Babydoll Sheep (cross bred sheep may also be an option)
• a mix of coloured and white sheep to make it easier to tell them apart
• older ewes in need of a good home

Even pet sheep need EID ear tags and you need to get a National Vendor Declaration from the seller.

Buying Babydoll Sheep as workers
Babydoll Sheep are known as handy lawn mowers both because of their calm temperament and their short height. You might look for

• adult ewes or wethers that have been bred to have good feet, resistance to worms and a cleaner face - all these traits will make them easier to look after
• sheep that have been bred in your region - they may be better adapted to the local climate
• sheep that are shorter - so they can't reach as high when grazing around trees and vines (the height of adult Babydoll Sheep seems to depend a good deal on the amount and quality of feed available in the two years so final height is fairly uncertain when buying lambs)
• sheep that have been trained to respect electric fences (but you can also train them)
• sheep that are not necessarily registered but do have evidence that they are Babydoll Sheep (cross bred sheep may also be an option)

Four legged lawn mowers should still have EID tags, a National Vendor Declaration and a National Sheep Health Declaration from the seller.

Buying Babydoll Sheep to produce meat and fibre
The Southdown breed that Babydolls are based on, is renown for its tasty meat and a springy Downs style fleece in the medium micron range. Babydolls are a viable option for home butchering for smaller cuts. You might look for

• breeding ewes and rams with good conformation and well muscled bodies
• easy keeping qualities such as resistance to worms and low maintenance feet
• sheep from a breeder who lambs in the paddock rather than in the shed
• sheep with a history of producing twin lambs
• sheep with a softer and longer fleece
• Gaucher Free
• Brucellosis accreditation held by breeder
• National Sheep Health Declaration from seller.

Buying Babydoll Sheep as stud stock
Registered Babydoll Sheep are used to breed lambs with known pedigrees that can be sold with registration papers. Registered purebred sheep can compete in sheep shows. You might look for

• sheep from a breeder whose breeding goals align with yours
• sheep with good conformation
• sheep that are true to type (meet the breed standard)
• sheep with a Breed Percentage higher than 93%
• ewes that are not closely related to the ram (ask to see extended pedigrees)
• sheep that are old enough for you to be able to assess their quality
• Gaucher Free status
• pedigrees provided breeder
• transfer of registration by breeder
• Brucellosis accreditation held by breeder
• National Sheep Health Declaration from seller.

Make sure to buy registered sheep if you want to breed and sell Babydoll sheep with registration papers. Remember that you generally can't turn unregistered sheep into registered sheep.

Buyers are encouraged to check carefully about what sheep registry they are buying from so that they don’t accidentally end up with sheep that can only be used in an appendix breeding program or not at all. For example, some registries do not allow coloured Babydolls and some registries to not recognise and register sheep from other registries. Buyers are also encouraged to ask for full pedigrees and registration details for the sheep at the time of sale.

See also Finding Babydoll Sheep breeders